FOX Plans AI, Ranger, Refugee & Western Series

FOX has been busy on the TV front with word today that they’ve put several new potential series into development.

First up they’ve handed out a script commitment with penalty to “neXt,” an A.I. thriller drama from Manny Coto (“24: Legacy”) and John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (“This Is Us”). The fact-based thriller is grounded in the latest A.I. research and features a brilliant but paranoid former tech CEO who joins a Homeland Cybersecurity Agent and her team to stop a terrifying A.I. outbreak that threatens us all.

Next, they’ve given a script commitment to an hourlong female-centric Texas Rangers drama from writer Matt Cook and Ilene Chaiken (“Empire”). That follows Lauren Crawford Flynn, one of only two females in the legendary and notoriously tough Texas Rangers, who balances the demands of her high stakes job in a male-dominated world with the challenges of being a single mom to a teenage daughter.

Next, they’ve begun development of “Buffalo Wings,” a half-hour animated comedy from the Groundlings alums Hugh Davidson, Rachel Ramras and Larry Dorf. The project, their first since “Nobodies,” follows two Canadian brothers who do not follow the rest of their flock when they fly south. When their hypothesis is wrong and they almost freeze to death, they must take refuge in Buffalo, NY, where they begin to live life as immigrant refugees.

Finally, sister network FX has begun development of character-driven crime drama “Piety” from writer Wes Brown (“Preacher”) and “Legion” showrunner Noah Hawley. The story is set in and around a cult in the American West, but further specifics are under wraps.